#Purple japanese bonsai tree how to#

I am passionate about bonsai for a number of reasons. In the meantime, I do have a 10% appointment with MBGNA so I can stay in the loop and help out as needed. The apprenticeship runs just over three years and will wrap up in the fall of 2024 at which point I plan to come back to MBGNA to pick up where I left off maintaining the bonsai collection. I moved out to Portland in 2021 to begin my apprenticeship Crataegus Bonsai. So, in 2019, I opened up the idea of apprenticeship with both Michael and MBGNA, and the rest is history! Michael was looking for his next apprentice, and MBGNA was supportive. I wanted to learn more and spend more time learning technical skills. I knew that they wouldn’t be enough for me. The seasonal intensives were great fun and challenging. I didn’t just find bonsai, I found community.

I had always liked it for the combination of art and horticulture, two disciplines I really enjoyed, but these intensives really inspired and challenged me. It was here that I really, finally, got excited about bonsai. Michael ran seasonal intensive classes – 4 times a year (winter, spring, summer, fall) for 3 days at a time, for two years. So, in 2018, I began studying with Michael Hagedorn of Crataegus Bonsai located in Portland, OR. With the acquisition of Mel’s trees, I wanted to gain more knowledge and technical skill to maintain the collection. Between working with Dave and attending bonsai shows and workshops, I began to develop more skills. Melvyn Goldstein regarding the donation of his collection. It was also around this time we began discussions with Dr.

In 2015, we began working with David DeGroot, former curator of the Pacific Bonsai Museum, to enhance the trees in our collection. I came back in a part-time capacity in 2014, focused on the bonsai collection. I had my son in 2013, a week after the Bonsai and Penjing Garden opened to the public. Connie and I attended the American Bonsai Society Learning Seminars in Louisville, KY that summer, and that was my first real crash course in bonsai.

#Purple japanese bonsai tree how to#

At this point, I didn’t know anything about bonsai outside of the fact that we had a collection.įor the first 6 months, I worked closely with, now retired, horticulturist, Connie Crancer, and the bonsai volunteers to learn how to care for the collection. In 2011, I moved to a permanent horticulture position which included caring for all of the special collections, including bonsai. I was hired in 2009 in a temporary capacity to work on caring for and restoring the Peony Garden at the arboretum. Getting into bonsai was purely accidental for me. Tell us a little bit about your passion for your work.